GREENSBORO, NC -- Imagine: A few hundred mostly white teenagers and young adults are milling around downtown on a Saturday night. A fight breaks out between some teenagers.
Someone breaks a window.
A few cameras capture some of the crowd reaction: hundreds of mostly white people running down the street. Some may be running towards the fight, some may be running away. The details to say for certain are lacking.
Then a gunshot. More white people running.
How would these events then be portrayed in the media?
400 teens in massive brawl?
or
Fights, gunshot cause hundreds to scatter in panic?
Go one step further. What would YOU assume if you were to see video of hundreds of white people running through the streets of downtown and heard it corresponded to some nearby fights? Would you think of those people running, "Those out of control animals are up to no good," or would it be "Those people are panicked, they must be scared of something?"
I'll wager that the willingness to lump bystanders with the criminals depends greatly on the race of the bystanders.
Such is Greensboro.
The two that fumbled with the ball are, the city and the media. The police did the best they could with the manpower they had. The issues are why the city let or allow to go unchecked false media reports. The city needs to investigate and correct the issue, the world knows Greensboro as a gang banging town. There are 9 people on council and someone needs to step up and ask for an investigation.
ReplyDeleteThe investigation needs to start with the tape Zack played. Who taped it, how much was taped, what gun shot is heard. The next thing is to review video and talk with subjects that were there, police, adults and kids involved in the incident. The media reported 400 but only 11 arrested and some issued citations. I been in a few large crowd issues and yes they get out of hand quick and are dangerous so the police did their best to regain control. The issue is the official report or belief of 400 fighting.
ReplyDeleteZack taped it, Zack fired the gun-- thus no investigation.
ReplyDeleteAfter last night's circle jerk adulation about themselves do you really think Council will do anything other than pleasure themselves?
ReplyDeleteThe funny part is that the city worries about its image from the 1979 shooting but we don't care about incidents from 2013.I think the incident will be looked into 20 years from now. The investigation is simple and I would volunteer to serve on the committee to get facts. The Zack tape must be looked into, time, date and location. What sounds are we really hearing, talk to people who were there, look at the tons of video. Where did the media get this big 400 number and what led them to think riots were breaking out. The media had no field reporter on scene. I understand comments were made to city council people on scene, hearsay if the information can not be backed. The curfew is fine for now but what happens in 60 days.
ReplyDelete